Union Budget 2014: Tech to drive NDA's green revolution

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley made an allocation of Rs 100 crore for a scheme to provide every farmer a soil health card in a mission mode and said two agriculture research institutions of excellence will be established in Assam and Jharkhand with an initial sum of Rs 100 crore.

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Neetu CHandRA Sharma

New Delhi

July 11, 2014

UPDATED: July 11, 2014 11:02 IST

The below-normal monsoon predicted for this year was a cause of concern for Finance Minister Arun Jaitley while planning the 2014-15 Budget allocation for agriculture sector.

With some parts of the country facing a drought-like situation, the government has proposed a Rs 1,000 crore outlay for a new scheme, Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana, to ensure proper irrigation facilities for farmers.

"The bulk of our farm lands is rain-fed and dependent on monsoons. Therefore, there is a need to provide assured irrigation to mitigate risk. To improve access to irrigation, we propose to initiate the scheme 'Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana'," Jaitley said.

"Price volatility in agriculture produce creates uncertainties and hardship for farmers. To mitigate this, I am providing a sum of Rs 500 crore for establishing a Price Stabilisation Fund," the minister added.

Jaitley has set an agriculture credit target of Rs 8 lakh crore and a scheme of interest subvention of 3 per cent for timely repayment of farm loans. "The government is committed to sustain a growth of 4 per cent in agriculture. This government will bring a technology-driven second Green Revolution with focus on higher productivity and include 'Protein revolution' as an area of major focus," Jaitley said.

The government also focused on soil health as it leads to sub-optimal utilisation of farming resources. Jaitley made an allocation of Rs 100 crore for a scheme to provide every farmer a soil health card in a mission mode. An additional Rs 56 crore was allocated to set up 100 mobile soil testing laboratories.

Two agriculture research institutions of excellence will be established in Assam and Jharkhand with an initial sum of Rs 100 crore, Jaitley said.

For disseminating information to farmers regarding new farming techniques, water conservation and organic farming, the Kisan TV channel dedicated to the interests of agriculture and allied sectors will be launched in this fiscal.

Agriculture universities will be set up in Andhra Pradesh and Rajasthan and horticulture universities in Telangana and Haryana. "An initial sum of Rs200 crore has been allocated for this purpose. In addition, Rs 100 crore will be released for setting up an 'Agri-Tech Infrastructure Fund'," Jaitley said. Funds will be provided to five lakh joint farming groups of "Bhoomi Heen Kisan" through NABARD as a large number of landless farmers are unable to provide land title as guarantees and institutional finance is denied to them, he said. Agricultural experts expressed disappointment over the allocation for agriculture, saying the government had not come up with anything substantive in terms of decisive shifts in policy direction to address the crisis in farm livelihoods.

"After disappointing the farmers with practically no increase in Minimum Support Prices (MSPs), there is further disappointment from the Budget as it has no provisions for ensuring higher incomes for farmers - 50 per cent above cost of cultivation as promised by the BJP manifesto," Convener of the Alliance for Sustainable and Holistic Agriculture, Kavitha Kuruganti said.Tax holiday to boost power production

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley extended the 10-year tax holiday to companies that start power generation by March 31, 2017.

"Supply of power continues to be a major area of concern for the country. Instead of annual extensions, I propose to extend the 10-year tax holiday to the undertakings which begin generation, distribution and transmission of power by March 31, 2017. This stability in our policy will help investors to plan their investments better," Jaitley said.

He said Delhi is plagued by frequent transmission-related problems. "In order to overcome this and make Delhi a world class city, I propose to provide Rs 200 crore for power reforms."

He allocated Rs 100 crore for super critical ultra-modern thermal power and rationalisation of coal linkages. Adequate coal will be provided to power plants as extensive measures to augment domestic output, Jaitley said. "Comprehensive measures to enhance domestic coal production are being put in place along with stringent mechanism for quality control and environmental protection," he added.

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